Heck Of A Guy

Mount Kuchumaa

Julie¹ Does Rancho La Puerta

Last night, talking with friends on their return from a week at a spa reminded me that Julie had once written something about a specific experience at Rancho La Puerta, a spa located near Tecate, Mexico² an hour south of San Diego that opened in 1940. After some digging, I found this brief note she had written, I believe, in response to a request from the Ranch³ for accounts of memorable experiences guests had there.

The mountain Julie mentions is Mount Kuchumaa.⁴ Every morning, just at sunrise, we, along with many of the other guests and two staff members, would spend an hour hiking up the mountain and back. The top photo is the full view of Mount Kuchumaa, which overlooks Rancho La Puerta. I included the photo at the bottom for a sense of the climb and descent.

I visited the Ranch in September 1989. I climbed the mountain every day, going up the easy side. In April 1990, I returned. This time I climbed the harder side. I paced myself so I was completely alone. Me on the mountain, my thoughts, my breath, on the wonderful moment of reaching the top.

In March 1991 I was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer.⁵ I couldn’t walk without aid. My treatment included chemotherapy, radiation, and visualization. Twice a day, I spent an hour climbing your mountain, climbing toward the sun, toward health and wellness and the new day. Some days everyone I loved waited at the top of the mountain. Others, I reached it alone and sat with the sun in my face.

Six years later, I am alive, I am well. I can climb that mountain again, not just in my mind, but with my body.

1. Julie Showalter was my much-beloved, fiercely smart, extraordinarily sexy wife and prize-winning writer, who died in 1999 from cancer diagnosed the week of our wedding nearly 20 years earlier. There are many other posts about her and her writing in this blog. For information, see Julie Showalter FAQ↩
2. It somehow seems fitting that the town nearest the spa is also the home of Tecate Beer↩
3. We aficionados referred to Rancho La Puerta as “The Ranch.” Yes, I was so besotted with Julie that I spent not one but two weeks at a Mexican spa with her.↩
4. It is in keeping with the character of the place that the spa’s literature typically refers to Mount Kuchumaa as “Mystic Mount Kuchumaa.”↩
5. To clarify, Julie’s breast cancer had been diagnosed years earlier. The first evidence of bone metastases was found in 1991.↩